It is 20 years since the dawn of democracy in our beautiful but troubled land.
Freedom Day was and remains a defining experience in our country. The actual event of voting in the first non-racial, democratic elections was preceded by much hard work by South Africans from opposing political creeds, and with the support of friends around the globe.
History will record the big role played by the ANC in our struggle, even if there were many ancillary forces, both within the country and abroad, that were part of our liberation.
Among those who contributed were compatriots – across the length and breadth of SA – who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Some died in the streets of barren townships, in ghastly interrogation cells, at the hands of hit squads, or as collateral victims of the struggle for justice. Many succumbed in lonely exile far away from the land of their birth.
In celebrating this day, we pause to remember all these. We acknowledge those who put aside self-interest and principle – honourable or mis-guided - in pursuit of the common good.
Given the decades of antipathy and the prospect of violence mere days before we voted, our country wobbled on tenterhooks right up to the last.
But April 27, 1994, dawned with great anticipation. Millions of us queued to vote, our joy tempered slightly – but never completely – by the fatigue of standing from dawn to dusk.
Our act of voting then was an expression of hope for a future in which peace would triumph and democracy be entrenched. It was a commitment to finding creative, meaningful ways of dealing with the wounds of our racist past, making ‘justice for all’ our mantra - not least the justice required to redress historical and legalised economic inequality.
Through our vote, we trusted that the political parties against whom we placed our crosses would not disappoint us but lead our united efforts for a better future with courage, optimism and integrity.
Twenty years later we must take time to celebrate what we have achieved. Only the churlish and those with very narrow sectarian interests will not acknowledge that South Africa is a radically different country now than it was in 1994.
But this is also a moment to be saddened by the missed opportunities reflected in the failings of our political leaders, the policy shortcomings and bureaucratic catastrophes, the moral depravity and societal degradation, the tentative – at best - move away from a racialised past. And the frittering away of our democratic dividend. - From the Daily Dispatch
